MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, Philippines — A 500-pound bomb that was dropped from an Air Force plane but failed to explode during the five-month war against Islamic State militants in 2017 was detonated on Saturday morning in a lakeside community.
The bomb was stuck just eight meters below the ground, said Lt. Col. Elmer Oamil, commander of the Army’s 553rd Engineering Battalion which is overseeing debris clearing work in the city.
The bomb was the 10th to be detonated since March. When blasted, the bomb set off some 20-meter high debris that engulfed the minaret of the bullet-ridden Bato Ali mosque some 300 meters away. —Richel V. Umel
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